FG begins N5,000 monthly payment to 1million poor Nigerians

THE Presidency on Monday announced that the Federal Government has begun the payment of N5,000 monthly stipend to one million most vulnerable Nigerians
through the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) of its Social Investment Programmes (SIP).
Senior Special Assistant on Media and publicity to the Vice President, Laolu Akande, who disclosed this in a statement issued in Abuja, said the implementation of the programme was part of the Muhammadu Buhari administration’s determined efforts to touch the lives of Nigerians positively.
It said beneficiaries in Borno, Kwara and Bauchi states have started receiving the money under the first batch, which also includes Cross Rivers, Niger, Kogi, Oyo, Ogun and Ekiti states.
The statement explained that nine pilot states were chosen because they have existing social registers that successfully identified the most vulnerable and poorest Nigerians through a tried and tested community based targeting (CBT) method working with the World Bank.
According to the Presidency, other states have however already begun developing their social registers and would be included in subsequent phases of the CCT implementation.
It informed that beneficiaries of the CCT of the Federal Government would be mined from the register, initially developed by eight states through a direct engagement with the World Bank.

It said: “Those states are featured in the first batch, with the added inclusion of Borno State where a validated list of IDPS was compiled in addition to the Social Register, which is expected to go round the country.
“Working with the World Bank, the CBT process has now been adopted for developing the Social Register in the other states around the country, for transparency, objectivity and credibility in the selection of the poorest and most vulnerable beneficiaries for the programme.”

According to the statement, the sequence for the payment of the money would be operationally managed by NIBSS.

Under the CCT, one million Nigerians would receive N5,000 monthly payments as a form of social safety net for the poorest and most vulnerable as budgeted for in the 2016 Budget.
The Presidency claimed that nine states were expected to be covered as at last week “and many of the beneficiaries have already reported receiving their first payments by Friday last week, December 30, 2016.”
“Funds for the commencement of the payments in four states were released last week to the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) – the platform that hosts and validates payments for all government’s social intervention programmes. Funds for another set of five states to complete the first batch of nine states would follow soon,” it further stated.

According to the statement, the Federal Government will commence community mobilisation for the creation of the Register in more states soon, to expand the scope and reach of the CCT across the country.
It added that Plateau, Jigawa, Adamawa, Anambra, Benue, Enugu, Katsina and Taraba states have so far complied with the stipulated framework provided, and are set for the community based targeting method for the development of their Social Register within their jurisdictions.

It noted that these states are to be followed by Delta, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Imo and Ogun states, saying, “Once the community mobilisation, identification and selection processes are completed, the information garnered from the poorest households would be entered onto the social register in the states and the national register at NIBSS, after which the cash transfers would be disbursed to the beneficiaries.

“All the funds approved for the Federal Government’s Social Investment Programmes (SIP), are domiciled with the Ministry of Budget and National Planning.
“In addition, the payment information and processes for all beneficiaries of the Federal Government’s SIP are hosted at NIBSS, as the Consolidated Beneficiary Register, to ensure and fortify efforts at authentication and verification, as well as fo